chrl42 wrote:Hekai is another region where a vast difference occurs within.

The best Hekai I've had was 2700/500g last year, a pretty famous vendor sitted at Maliandao..the Laoban might be crazy putting the price but people still go there because their tea is good.

fairly sweet with a lack of real character is exactly what it was. Some people might even believe to be putted as Yiwu...very friendly taste I'd say.

And I've had other Hekai of different characters..from harsh bitter to def. platation trait. Gushu is difficult because so many variables exist.

Very true. Hekai has a huge production of tea and a large range of flavors and character. Part of what makes the whole "This is not that region!" game so laughable is the gigantic variance in what kind of tea can come out of a certain area.

The 2014 Hekai I liked a lot had a strong bitter character and was thick in body. Others were more towards the sweet and non-descript end of the spectrum.

Very true. Hekai has a huge production of tea and a large range of flavors and character. Part of what makes the whole "This is not that region!" game so laughable is the gigantic variance in what kind of tea can come out of a certain area.

The 2014 Hekai I liked a lot had a strong bitter character and was thick in body. Others were more towards the sweet and non-descript end of the spectrum.

i'm looking for the bitter bite, the more intense/stronger the better, not astringency though.

Very true. Hekai has a huge production of tea and a large range of flavors and character. Part of what makes the whole "This is not that region!" game so laughable is the gigantic variance in what kind of tea can come out of a certain area.

The 2014 Hekai I liked a lot had a strong bitter character and was thick in body. Others were more towards the sweet and non-descript end of the spectrum.

i'm looking for the bitter bite, the more intense/stronger the better, not astringency though.

kyarazen wrote:i'm looking for the bitter bite, the more intense/stronger the better, not astringency though.

If you want the really heavy, sitting bitterness, aim for Bulang. The Bulang Beauty from Teaurchin or the New Amerykah from White2tea (my site) both have that intense bitterness. I'm out of last years production, but this years is pressed and on the way, though the blend is slightly different from last year.

If you have the budget, Laoman'e is very heavy on bitterness. Some of the lesser known Bulang villages are even heavier, but they don't have as much name recognition.

I do like bitter teas, but I like good tasting bitter tea, and Lao Man'E, Jie Liang and places like that have nothing on the banzhang area, or Man Mu and other areas of far south Bulang when it comes to good tasting heavy bitter.

Jingmai and Manlu/Naka can be very bitter, but also good tasting, and productive as well in terms of generating aftertastes. The sample I had of the 2005 Mengsong Peacock was incredibly bitter and astringent in early 2010. But the cakes I got later on were much nicer, so the original quality in 2005 probably was very hard to handle.

Up north, a lot of JingGu are nice bitter, too. Xigui and places nearby, have an obnoxious bitter-tart taste, though.

In defense of Laoman'e, they have a range of tea. All that anyone ever talks about is their bitter tea, but they have other tea in the village, several kinds. Some of the teas are fruity and even sweet.

In defense of the bitter tea, it's delicious and makes you feel like a rocket ship.

In defense of Laoman'e, they have a range of tea. All that anyone ever talks about is their bitter tea, but they have other tea in the village, several kinds. Some of the teas are fruity and even sweet.

In defense of the bitter tea, it's delicious and makes you feel like a rocket ship.

I'm sitting here drinking 2011 Xikong from TU. I have to brew it in a way that the bitterness doesn't slap me in the face, including less leaf. I much prefer the Laomane teas I've had over this. I also like Bulang teas.

Yesterday, drinking some of my 2009 Bingdao. My, my, this tea is coming along so nicely. I love that clean gushu taste and feeling. This is a tea that I would call refined and very well mannered. Endless brews. This is a tea that knocks nicely on your door and takes over your tea table with its presence, slowly getting better and better after 10 brews or so. Not many teas can go this distance.

I heard some of the Hekai is added in the new gen LBZ to simulate the bitterness in LBZ. They can be detected if you are used to both tea.

Bitterness is often associated with higher quality Puer tea to a certain extent. At least that is what the market want us to believe. But there are so many types of bitterness, so buyers beware.

I used to study and drink the bitter tea call Kuding and Malaumit to detect them in Puer tea. These bitter tea is added into puer to simulate the bitterness to market it as a higher quality tea. Most of the time, we can taste and identify the tea leaves of Kuding and Malaumit physically but sometime they break it in smaller pieces and blend in. The only way is to drink often until the taste profile burned into your taste memory.

Bitterness is nice, I do enjoy those bitterness in Hekai, Lao Man E and Naka and some sub group tea from Bulang and of course the LBZ. They are all bitter but different type of bitterness. I find Bulang tea is similar to Burgundy wine, they can be awfully erratic, great or disappointing, but the joy is in exploring those variables.

Did you add some of the bamboo leaves into the tea and brew together? Traditionally, we cut some sliver of the bamboo leaves from the basket and brew together with the tea. You can also "spike" this tea with aged mamdarin peel too.